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He attended the Govt. Lower Primary School, Chittattukara North Paravur and went to high school at the Govt. Boys High School, North Paravur. He completed his Pre-Degree education from Sree Narayana Mangalam College Malyankara, Moothakunnam. He wanted to become a singer at an young age but later took up mimicry. He graduated with a BA from Maharajas College, Ernakulam where he won the University title for Mimicry thrice. He started his stage career at Cochin Kalabhavan. He was also a performer in Comicola, a comedy program on Asianet. For about four years, he was associated with professional drama in Arathi Theatres, Cochin.

He is settled in North Paravur-Ernakulam District. The name of his house is "Laughing Villa". He is married to Sunitha and the couple have two sons, Chandu and Aromal.[3] He allies with the UDF party in Kerala, especially with the late political leader K. Karunakaran. He has written his memoirs in a book named Ishwara Vazhakkillello. He conducts a mimicry troupe named Cochin Stallions which introduced cine-serial actor Ramesh Pisharody and many other talents into the limelight.[4]

He was chosen as host for a comedy programme in a private Malayalam television channel. In 1997, his first breakthrough in cinema came with Ishtamanu Nooruvattam, a family drama directed by Sidhik Shameer.[5]

He played the protagonist in Achanurangatha Veedu, directed by Lal Jose. For his performance in this film, he won the Kerala State Film Award for the second best actor in 2007. He has also handled serious roles in films such as Gramophone and Perumazhakkalam. He also appeared in the movie Kerala Cafe(Segment: The Bridge). Salim featured in a hip-hop number in Album "Coffee @ MG Road"-'Palavattam' in 2008. He won the National Award for Best Actor for his performance in Adaminte Makan Abu in 2010.In 2015 he has directed,produced and written a film titled COMPARTMENT.